white foam: Here’s how to check the purity of honey before consuming

Over the past couple of months, the debate of whether brands selling honey are pure or not, has surfaced on social media. In fact, many newspapers have reported that the biggest brands in the country have failed the purity test. While we are still unsure if they are what they actually claim, it is important to check the purity of honey before consuming. There are several ways in which you can check if the honey is pure or adulterated. Ayush Sarda, founder of Sweetness of Ethics, an organic honey brand, shares a few tips:

1. When you refrigerate pure honey, it will not crystallise. You will see that it will remain in the liquid state throughout. However, in the case of adulterated honey, it will solidify and crystallise. You will also notice that a white layer of sugar is separated and formed on top of the impure honey.

2. In the case of raw organic honey, a white foam will form and, that is a sign of organic honey with no presence of chemical preservatives.

3. When you dip a matchstick in honey and light it up, it will immediately catch fire. If it doesn’t catch fire, then it is a sign of impure honey.

4. Vinegar and honey mixture can be an easy hack to spot fake honey from pure honey. To perform this test, try mixing a few drops of honey into a solution of vinegar-water. If the mixture starts to foam, it might be a sign that the quality of the honey is contaminated.

5. However, in the case of Sundarbans honey, it’s important to realise that because of the high humidity in the region, honey is thin and not thick like honey from the mountains. Weather plays a major role in determining the consistency of the honey. In dry cold weather, it is thick. Whereas, in the case of humid weather, it is thin. Since the mangroves are perpetually underwater, they absorb a lot of moisture that makes their consistency thin. Hence, pure Sunderbans honey will always be thin and liquid.